The mist that had started coming in was now a thick grey fog and neither could see a hand in front of their noses let alone where they were putting their feet. Almost wading through it with no sense of direction, they did what they could not to fall over balled up tents, abandoned boxes or coils of once used lights. After what felt like 20 minutes they spotted a light through the fog glowing bright like the afternoon sun.

Turning to head towards it, they ducked inside and were met by a blinding light drastically different from the darkness outside. Once their eyes had adjusted they couldn’t help wondering what they’d just walked into. A tent with glaring warm sunlight in the middle of the night and the tent looked like they were in a pond.

“Rrrrbt.” A voice croaked. Seeing a large dark green toad lying in the middle of the tent warming itself in the artificial sun, Donghae edged closer intrigued “It’s kinda cute, nothing else here’s looked that happy.” As it lazily opened its eye, it seemed to be thinking for a while before mumbling “Well would you be happy if you lived in this carinval?”

Jumping back slightly not expecting it to be able to talk, he couldn’t really argue with him after seeing what they had. As he began to feel slightly defeated Eunhyuk found himself asking “Would you happen to know if we’re nearly out of the carnival?” after what seemed like an eternity the toad replied “As it happens yes… after you pass through the next tent you’ll see an exit.”

A wave of relief passed over them at the thought of getting out of hellish maze, something clicked in the back of Eunhyuk’s mind “What’s in the next tent?” not sure if he was feeling impatient or just concerned the wait for the answer nearly killed him “I don’t know, I’ve never gotten off this lily-pad but Miss Fortune tells me we’ve lost many attractions over the last few years so maybe there’s nothing there anymore.”

Wishing that had been as reassuring as it had been intended, Donghae reached back and finding Eunhyuk’s hand interlocked their fingers. Quietly edging round the tent hoping the toad was as lazy as he seemed and not trying to catch them off guard, they were almost out when it croaked “Be careful, there’s a shadow following you and you wouldn’t want anything to happen to your boyfriend there.”

Almost stomping his foot in frustration Eunhyuk groaned “Oh for the last time we’re not dating! Seriously, what is it that makes people think that?!” not being best pleased with the look the toad gave them, as it focused onto Eunhyuk alone he couldn’t quite work out what it meant. Deciding it probably wasn’t anything important he decided to try his luck and asked “Is there anything else we need to know, anything that might help us get out?”